Panic release door arm



Nov. 28, 1967 F. ARMENTO 3,354,497

PANIC RELEASE DOOR ARM Filed April l9, 1966 United States Patent O3,354,497 PANIC RELEASE DOOR ARM Fred Armento, Alpine, NJ., assignor toRepublic Industries, Inc., Chicago, Ill., a corporation of IllinoisFiled Apr. 19, 1966, Ser. No. 543,672 6 claims. (C1. 16-55) Thisinvention relates generally to the art of door control devices. Moreparticularly it relates to a c-ontrol arm which is used to connect anautomatic door operator mechanism with a swinging door.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a novel doorcontrol arm for connecting an automatic door operator t-o a door, whichpermits the door to break free and swing in either direction underemergency conditions, and which prevents subsequent automatic operationof the door until the mechanism has been manually reset.

An additional object is to provide an improved door control mechanism ofthe type described above which can be manually reset simply by manuallyswinging the door approximately to closed position.

Yet another object is to provide a novel door control arm of the typediscussed above which will prevent the door from being swung by theautomatic door operator once the door has been manually opened underpanic or other emergency conditions, for instance.

Door control devices which simply swing a manually opened door towardclosed position under control are, of course, old, and it also is old toprovide these mechanisms in an embodiment which is mounted beneath thefloor, the door controller having an upstanding spindle which isconnected to a door such that when the door is swung toward openposition, it rotates the door control spindle against the resistance ofa spring. When the opened door is released, the action of the springrotates the spindle so as to swing the door to closed position, theclosing movement being under the control of a hydraulic dampingarrangement.

The commonly used scheme for connecting the rotating spindle to the dooris to provide the spindle end-which usually is either cylindrical ortapered-with at sides, and to t a door control arm socket over the endof the spindle, with the flat sides of the spindle in engagement withcomplementaryl surfaces in the door arm socket, thereby coupling the armto swing with spindle rotation. This arm then is fitted into a slot inthe bottom edge of the door near the hinged edge, and the free end ofthe arm is connected to the door in some fashion so that the door andthe spindle swing together, Usually some arrangement is provided toaccomplish adjustment of relative position as between the spindle andthe door.

The arrangement generally described above has been used both forcoupling a do-or to a floor mounted checking door closer, and forconnecting a door to an automatic door operator. The d-oor operatordiffers from the door closer principally in that it has a source ofpower which rotates the spindle to swing the door to open positi-onVwhenever a person steps upon a mat switch, or otherwise makes anelectrical contact which informs the mechanism that the door should beswung open. After the person has passed through the doorway, power isautomatically removed from the door operator, and the door swings closedunder control.

The above-described general arrangement for connect ing a door to anautomatic door closer-is shown in Carlson Patents Nos. 2,595,187 and2,603,818. Automatic door operator mechanisms which use essentially thissame type door arm are shown and describd in Carlson Patents Nos.2,739,808 and 2,789,814.

One dilculty encountered in connecting the spindle of a door closer to aswinging door in the manner described above is that if the door is ofthe type which is designed to swing inwardly, the door cannot be swungoutwardly under panic conditions.

A solution to this problem, so far as door closers are concerned, isshown in Carlson Patent No. 2,923,962, which, so far as is known, is themost nearly similar prior device. That device, however, is not suitablefor use with automatic door operators of the type contemplated by thepresent invention.

In the accompanying drawings in which similar characters of referencerefer to similar elements throughout the several views:

FIG. 1 is a vertical longitudinal medial sectional view showing aportion of a door and the floor therebeneath, the door operator spindle,and the control arm of the present invention in their assembledrelationship;

FIG. 2 is a horizontal sectional view taken substantially along the line2 2 of FIG. 1, downwardly as indicated by the arrows; and

FIG. 3 is a fractional sectional View which constitutes a portion ofFIG. 2, but showing the elements in altered position.

Referring to FIG. 1 of the drawings, the floor beneath the door isindicated at 10, and the top of the door operator spindle housingappears at 12. The spindle 14 extends upwardly through the housing 12,and is cylindrical except that it has fiat tapered faces oppositelydisposed at 16. The door closer arm, indicated generally at 18, isconnected to the spindle 14 andlies within a recess 20 formed within thebottom edge of the door 22. The top of the recess 20 is closed by a web24 against which the mounting plate 26 of the arm 18 is secured byscrews 28, one or more shims 30 being interposed, aS necessary, toadjust the position of the door upwardly or downwardly relative to thefloor 10.

The door arm structure includes the flat plate 26 adapted for attachmentdirectly to the door, and this plate carries a downwardly extending peg32 riveted thereto. This plate is intended to be secured to the door asa separate element prior to attachment of the door to the principalstructure of the door arm.

The principal portion of the door arm mechanism, which connects thespindle 14 to the plate 26, consists of a at plate 34 forked at itsrearward end to provide a slot just wide enough to embrace the peg 32.The end of the slot beyond the peg is closed by a transversely extendingbridge member 38 riveted at both ends to the plate 34. This bridge 38carries an adjustment screw 40, the inner end of which bears against therearward surface of the peg 32 when the parts are in assembledrelationship. Preferably, the end of the screw 40, which is against thepeg 32, is grooved transversely to lit the surface of the peg 32 whenthe screw 40 is in a certain position, or when it is rotated from thecertain position. This provides a self-locking action, so that the screwwill remain fixed after adjustment, the adjustment being accomplished insteps of one half turn each of the screw 40. The purpose of this screwadjustment is to shift the door slightly relative to the spindle 14.

At its opposite end, the plate 34 is secured to a block 42 drilled andtapped transversely in two locations to receive a pair of screws 44which extend through slots in the side walls of the door 22, thesescrews being used to adjust the right hand end of the arm, as seen inFIGS. 1 and 2, slightly transversely within the recess 20 so that thedoor comes to the proper closed position when the door operator is atrest.

A housing 44, preferably formed as a beryllium copper casting, issecured to and extends downwardly from the plate 34 in a position nearthe peg 32. This housing is machined to provide a vertical cylindricalpassage 46 closed at the top by the plate 34. A cylindrical sleeve 48 isfitted to rotate in the passage 46, the thrust being taken at its upperend which bears against the plate 34. This sleeve 4S is formedinternally to provide a socket which has surfaces complementary to theupper end of the spindle 14, so that flat tapered surfaces within thesleeve tit the tapered surfaces 16 of the spindle 14. Thus, when thesleeve 48 is in position upon the spindle 14 there can be no relativerotation between the two.

The housing 44 is machined to provide a passage 50 extendinghorizontally away from the sleeve 48 to the right as seen in FIGS. 1 and2, this passage being fitted to a longitudinally movable latching bolt52 having a wedge-shaped nose 54 at the end adjacent the sleeve 48. Theopposite end of the bolt 52 has an enlarged head 55 which is partiallysquared as at 56. This head fits within a squared recess 58 at the endof the passage 50, an annular shoulder 60 being provided between thepassage 50 and the recess 58. The squared surfaces on the bolt andwithin the recess prevent bolt rotation. The shoulder 60, in conjunctionwith the inner surface of the head 55, acts to limit inward travel ofthe bolt 52.

A sleeve 62 is tted to the housing member 44, as by threading, andextends outwardly in alignment with the passage 50. This sleeve 62encloses a heavy coil spring 64 which is pressed against the outer faceof the bolt head 55 by an adjustable spring base 66 at the end of ascrew 68 threaded through a plug 70 which closes the outer end of thepassage through the sleeve 62. In this particular instance, the plug ismachined to slip into the sleeve, these elements then being weldedtogether. Thus, by turning the screw 68, pressure applied by the spring64 for urging the bolt 52 inwardly against the sleeve 48 can beadjusted.

At the point where the wedge-shaped nose 54 of the bolt 52 engages thesleeve 48-with the sleeve rotated relative to the arm 34 such that thedoor is properly aligned in the doorway with the system at rest--thenose 54 enters into a wedge-shaped notch 72 (best seen in FIG. 3), thuslatching the main portion of the door arm and the door into xedrelationship relative to the sleeve 48 and spindle 14. Under theseconditions, the under face of the bolt head 55 almost touches theshoulder 60, the spacing here being only sufficient to insure that theend of the bolt is well seated within the notch 72 without there beinginterference as between the shoulder 60 and the head 55.

If sufcient turning force is applied to the door and the door arm whilethe spindle 14 remains stationary, the nose 54 of the bolt 52 will bewedged out of the notch 72, the spring 64 being compressed to permitthis, thereby permitting the door to swing under restraint relative tothe sleeve 48. This can be accomplished by manually. moving the door ineither direction from the closed posltlon.

Once the nose 54 of the bolt 52 has been wedged out of the notch 72,additional rotation of the door relative to the spindle 14 and sleeve 48causes the nose 54 to drop 1nto a peripheral groove 74 after the doorhas been rotated about thirty degrees away from its closed position.This groove 74 extends almost all the way around the sleeve 48, and endsabout thirty degrees short of the other side of the notch 72. The groove74 is deep enough, so that when the nose 54 of the bolt 52 is within theconfines of the groove 74, the bolt will be restrained against inwardmovement under the inuence of the spring 64-by the shoulder 60 bearingagainst the under surface of the head SS-before the end of the nose 54reaches the bottom of the groove 74.

Under ordinary conditions of operation with the nose 54 of the bolt 52sealed in the notch 72, the spindle 14, sleeve 48, the door arm 18, andthe door 22 will swing as a unit. Normally the door is at rest in the`closed position, and ywhenever someone approaches the door from theappropriate side-from the outside, for instanceand steps upon a controlmat or otherwise actuates a device which makes a Isignaling contact, thespindle 14 will be rotated by the door operator mechanism, therebyswinging the door to open position. When the person has passed throughthe doorway, the door operator mechanism will return the door to closedposition in preparation for a new cy-cle. If, |when the door is closed,panic conditions develop within the building and pressure is extertedagainst the door from the inside-thereby producing a door turning momentrelative to the spindle 14 which is in excess of that normally requiredto insure swinging operation of the door when the spindle is rotated-thenose 54 of the vbolt 52 will be wedged out of the notch 72, therebypermitting the door to swing under a moderate amount ofrestraint-because the nose 54 presses against the surface of the sleeve48 for a distance of about thirty degrees. Additional movement beyondthis point will cause t-he nose 54 of the bolt 52 to slide down one orthe other of -tapered ramps 75 at the end-s of the groove 74, andthereafter pressure of the spring 64 against the bolt 52 has norestraining action against free swinging movement of the door relativelto the sleeve 48 and spindle 14. The door, therefore, may be swung tocompletely open position, at right angles, -for instance, as is shown inFIG. 3. When the panic conditions have passed, it is necessary merely toswing the door to closed position, thereby causing the bolt nose 54 toslide up the appropriate ramp 75 and snap into the notch 72.

In FIG. 2 the door is shown in its normal closed position, and it isassumed that during automatic operation the mechanism swings the doorinwardly of the building in a counterclockwise direction. In FIG. 3 thespindle 14 and sleeve 48 are shown in the closed position, but the doorhas been pushed clockwise outwardly about degrees. If now it is assumedthat someone pas-ses through the doorway and steps upon the control mator otherwise activatesy the mechanism, the door operator will rotate thespindle 14 counterclockwise, attempting to open the door. Since the dooris already swung 90 degrees or so, this attempt by the mechanism to openthe door will actually have the eifect of trying to close it. Peoplepassing through the doorway, therefore, will cause the mechanism torepeatedly attempt to open and close the door. However, because of thegroove 74, and the fact that the nose 54 of the bol-t 52 cannot reachthe bottom of the groove, the sleeve 48 rotates freely within thecylindrical passage 36. Thus the door remains in its open position eventhough the spindle 14 rotates back and fort-h. This prevents thepossibility of injury to persons passing through the doorway, and infact a person so passing would not Ibe aware of the fact that the dooroperator was attempting to swing the door.

From the above it will be seen lthat under normal operating conditions,the door arm and door swing in fixed relationship relative to thepowered spindle 14. The door, however, can be manually broken free so asto swing either outwardly or inwardly relative to the spindle underemergency conditions so as to clear the doorway. It is also apparentthat in the event that the door has been manually opened, it can beeasily reset to its normal position simply by pushing the door closed,and that in the event someone attempts to pass through the doorway afterthe door has been opened manually in either direction, there is nodanger of the door being inadvertently closed or swung against such aperson -by normal operation of the door closer mechanism.

From the above description of a preferred embodiment of the invention itwill be appreciated that variations in the structure can be made withoutdeparting from the scope or spirit thereof, and that, therefore, thescope of the invention is to be determined by the scope of thc followingclaims.

Haviug described my invention, what I claim as new and useful and desireto secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A door arm for connecting a door operator having a vertical spindleto a door having a recess in the edge thereof, said door arm beingadapted to be housed Within said recess and having a lirst element forconnection with said door and a second element having 4an internalsurface adapted for connection to said spindle, said second elementhaving an external surface litted to rotate in said iirst elementsubstantially coaxially -With respect to said spindle, a spring lloadedbolt mounted to slide in said first element in a direction substantiallynormal to the axis of rotation of said second element, said bolt havinga tapered nose engaging the external surface of said second elementunder the spring loading, said external surface being formed to providea notch to t said nose when the door and spindle are in door closedposition, said external surface being formed to provide a peripheralgroove extending through an arc of t-he order of 300 degrees, the endsof said groove being substantially equally spaced on either side of saidnotch, said groove being in vertical alignment with said nose, and meansproviding a limit stop to prevent the nose of said bolt from applyingsubstantial pressure against said second element when said nose isWithin said groove.

2. The combination called for in claim 1 in which the pressure appliedby said spring loaded bolt is adjustable.

3. The combination icalled for in claim 1 in which said tapered nose isWedge-shaped to engage said second element along a line substantiallyparallel to the axis of said spindle, and means is provided to preventrotation of said bolt relative to said first element.

4. The combination called for in claim 3 in which the ends of saidgroove and the sides of said notch are tapered.

5. The combination called for in claim 1 in which the ends of saidgroove and the sides of said notch are tapered.

46. A door arm for connecting a door operator having a vertical spindleto a door having a recess in the edge thereof, said door arm beingadapted to be housed Within said recess and having a tirst element forconnection with said door and a second element having an internalsurface adapted for connection to said spindle, said second elementhaving an external surface tted to rotate in said Irst elementsubstantially coaxially with respect to said spindle, a spring loadedbolt mounted to slide in said rst element in a direction substantiallynormal to the axis of rotation of said second element, said bolt havinga tapered nose engaging the external surface of said second elementunder the spring loading, said external surface being formed to providea notch to t said nose when the door and spindle are in door closedposition, said external `surface being formed to provide a peripheralgroove extending from a position about 30 degrees from the center ofsaid notch to a position at least degrees from the center of said notch,said groove being in vertical alignment with said nose, and meansproviding a limit stop to prevent the nose of said bolt from applyingsubstantial pressure against said second element when said nose iswithin said groove.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,923,962 2/1960 Carlson..-16--55 BGBBY R. GAY, Primary Examiner. I. L. KOHNEN, AssistantExaminer.

1. A DOOR ARM FOR CONNECTING A DOOR OPERATOR HAVING A VERTICAL SPINDLETO A DOOR HAVING A RECESS IN THE EDGE THEREOF, SAID DOOR ARM BEINGADAPTED TO BE HOUSED WITHIN SAID RECESS AND HAVING A FIRST ELEMENT FORCONNECTION WITH SAID DOOR AND SECOND ELEMENT HAVING AN INTERNAL SURFACEADAPTED FOR CONNECTION TO SAID SPINDLE, SAID SECOND ELEMENT HAVING ANEXTERNAL SURFACE FITTED TO ROTATE IN SAID FIRST ELEMENT SUBSTANTIALLYCOAXIALLY WITH RESPECT TO SAID SPINDLE, A SPRING LOADED BOLT MOUNTED TOSLIDE IN SAID FIRST ELEMENT IN A DIRECTION SUBSTANTIALLY NORMAL TO THEAXIS OF ROTATION OF SAID SECOND ELEMENT, SAID BOLT HAVING A TAPERED NOSEENGAGING THE EXTERNAL SURFACE OF SAID SECOND ELEMENT UNDER THE SPRINGLOADING, SAID EXTERNAL SURFACE BEING FORMED TO PROVIDE A NOTCH TO FITSAID NOSE WHEN THE DOOR AND SPINDLE ARE IN DOOR CLOSED POSITION, SAIDEXTERNAL SURFACE BEING FORMED TO PROVIE A PERIPHERAL GROOVE EXTENDINGTHROUGH AN ARC OF THE ORDER OF 300 DEGREES, THE ENDS OF SAID GROOVEBEING SUBSTANTIALLY EQUALLY SPACED ON EITHER SIDE OF SAID NOTCH, SAIDGROOVE BEING IN VERTICAL ALIGNMENT WITH SAID NOSE, AND MEANS PROVIDING ALIMIT STOP TO PREVENT THE NOSE OF SAID BOLT FROM APPLYING SUBSTANTIALPRESSURE AGAINST SAID SECOND ELEMENT WHEN SAID NOSE IS WITHIN SAIDGROOVE.